The use of 3D content and in particular of animated 3D characters is becoming increasingly popular. In animated movies, games and virtual worlds, 3D character models or avatars are often one of the most essential and compelling aspects of the experience. Despite the increased demand for animated 3D characters, 3D character models for use in animation continue to be created by artists with specialized training. The artist typically creates a 3D character animation by manually producing a 3D characters model and motion data that animates the 3D model. A common process for generating 3D character animations is illustrated in FIG. 1. The process 100 involves creating (102) a mesh of the 3D character. A mesh is a collection of vertices and polygons that define the shape of an object in 3D. A texture is created (104) and is applied (106) to the mesh. The texture defines the appearance of the mesh. In order to enable the animation of the 3D character, a skeleton is created (108) and skinning weights (110) are defined. The skeleton defines the articulated body parts of the mesh and the skinning weights define the deformation of the mesh as a function of the motion of the skeleton. The process of defining a skeleton and skinning weights is often referred to as rigging the 3D character. The rigging of a 3D character is usually quite complex and time-consuming, and requires specific 3D modeling knowledge/education. This represents a barrier to the generation of 3D animation content from a wider audience. Moreover, most 3D modeling tools require the installation of 3rd party software, which represents a further barrier to widespread use and diffusion of 3D animation related art.